The Friend Zone
by EternalSorrowOfAngels
Summary: Garrus and Shepard go for drinks on Illium, post-Horizon, and over hear a couple in an all too familiar position... This is completely separate from my other Garrus/FemShep fics. I wasn't going to write more, but then I did... Complete
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I've had writers block while re-writing Finding Me and then this popped into my head. So I wrote it down in the hopes that it would clear my writers block. It's worked a little but Finding Me is still gonna take some time.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Garrus and Shepard go for drinks on Illium, post-Horizon, and over hear a couple in an all too familiar position...**

**This is completely separate from my other Garrus/FemShep fics.**

* * *

"So then he says, 'Oh, it's okay. Our amino acids are all different, so it's not like we can get diseases or anything if we go natural'."

"I'm telling you, this is why you shouldn't date humans."

"So then I had to explain about cross-species fluid contact. Completely killed the mood."

"Not to mention that you're a quarian. How could he be so insensitive? You deserve somebody who's going to respect you. Somebody who's going to treat you right."

"Oh, I think I'm just going to stop dating for a while."

"No! Don't do that. Don't let some human spoil you."

"It's always the same thing. 'Ooh, she could get sick. Ooh, she's vulnerable. I wonder what she looks like under the helmet'."

"You'll find someone out there who cares about you for who you are. Someone whose food you can eat, even. If you're hurting for something to do, maybe after work we could catch a vid or something?"

"Oh, that's sweet, but a little dry spell isn't going to kill me."

"We could watch 'Fleet and Flotilla', it got awards for its portrayal of, um, turian and quarian relationships."

"Anyway, if worst comes to worst, I did have the nerve-stimulation program built into my suit."

"And I hear that the loves scenes are... what?"

"Oh yeah. Standard equipment for any responsible adult. Here, let me fire it up..."

"A moment of silence for a brother in the friend zone." Shepard said into her drink, chuckling softly, as Garrus realised that she too had been listening to the conversation across the bar. "Wait, did that translate properly?" She asked and he nodded. Some idioms were lost across species but some translated all too well...

"Poor bastard." Garrus muttered and Shepard raised an eyebrow at him.

"It is kind of his fault. He wouldn't be having so much trouble if he would just man up and tell her how he felt." She reasoned, shrugging and Garrus gave her an incredulous look. She raised her eyebrow again. "What? Did 'man up' not translate right?" She asked and he shook his head.

"No, it's not that. It's just that she clearly doesn't think of him like that. The direct approach could be the most painful." He reasoned and she frowned.

"I think she does. Think of him like that, I mean." She said and Garrus frowned back at her as she leant back against the bar.

"_Right_, that's why she dated someone else." He said sarcastically and she nodded.

"Yeah, in fact, it is." She said, confusing him. "Maybe she figured he wouldn't be interested. Maybe she thought that _he_ had friendzoned _her_. Maybe she figured that they were too different and he could never feel the same way... So she went for someone she never cared about, in the hopes of forgetting him. But here she is, left by the guy she never truly cared for, having to pretend to not care about the guy she really loves..." Garrus shook his head at that.

"Are you kidding me? It's obvious how he feels about her!" He said, still looking at Shepard as if she were mad but she simply shrugged.

"Yeah, to us maybe. But it's a hell of alot easier to see things like that from the outside. And even if she did pick up on it, could she ever be sure? They're so different, how could she be sure that it wasn't just a cross-species misunderstanding? Can you think of anything worse than if you thought your best friend liked you and you tried to act on it, only to discover that you had made a mistake? That he, in fact, didn't think of you like that and you had not only got your heart broken but lost your closest friend as well?" Garrus could, indeed, imagine, more than she knew, but he still shook his head at her point.

"Then she would just be over thinking things." He said and she shrugged.

"But so is he. Just face it, they're both idiots. But he's not yet lost hope that they could be together. He just needs to ask and I'm sure he'd get the answer he wants." She said and Garrus sighed, shaking his head again.

"It's not that simple. Why does it fall to him? You're saying that he should be the one to 'man up' and tell her how he feels when she couldn't do the same." He pointed out and she sighed.

"Yeah, maybe. But maybe she has a damn good reason. Maybe the stakes are even higher." She said and he raised a brow plate.

"Oh? How could the stakes be higher than a broken heart?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Maybe she's his boss. In that case it would be inappropriate of her to make a move on him." She reasoned but Garrus shook his head.

"In that case it would be equally inappropriate for _him_ to make a move on _her_." He pointed out and Shepard nodded.

"You're right. Maybe neither of them should say anything. Maybe it's too damn risky..." She said and he sighed, collecting his thoughts for a moment before replying.

"Maybe... But maybe that's worse. To constantly be around someone you care for and not be able to tell them." He reasoned and she sighed.

"So, that's the question Garrus: Which is worse? To never take a chance and let love pass you by or to take the chance and risk losing your best friend?" She asked, her gaze had been wandering around the bar during the entire conversation but it had finally come to rest on him, her piercing eyes watching him intently. He sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

"I honestly don't know, Shepard. But when I do, I promise you'll be the first to know." He said honestly and she nodded, lowering her gaze.

"Yeah... same."


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay so this was meant to be a one-shot but they just kept talking in-one-long-incredibly-unbroken-sentence-moving-from-topic-to-topic-so-that-no-one-had-the-chance-to-interrupt-it-was-really-quite-hypnotic...**

**Sorry, I couldn't resist the Picard quote. :P**

* * *

"What are you trying to figure out?" Garrus asked as he saw the look of concentration on Shepard's face. He'd seen it all too often on the battlefield, but rarely when they were just talking.

"How did you...?" She asked before smiling and shaking her head. "It's nothing... just wondering something..." She trailed off, returning to her drink. He followed her gaze to find that she had been looking at the turian and quarian couple who were still at the bar, just as they were.

"What?" He asked and she sighed, still smiling and shaking her head.

"Doesn't matter..." She muttered and he nudged her shoulder with his own.

"Come on." He said and she sighed.

"I was just... wondering about them again..." She admitted and Garrus raised a brow plate.

"Wasn't the point of this to get your mind off romance?" He asked and she sighed.

"I guess... I was just... Never mind." She said, shaking her head again.

"Okay, now I'm officially curious." He said and she downed her drink before continuing.

"I was just wondering why he doesn't just kiss her and get it over with. I mean, I get that he can't _say_ it. Maybe he's just bad with words. But then why not just kiss her?" She said and he raised a brow plate in response.

"She's wearing a mask." He pointed out and Shepard shrugged.

"You know what I mean. Although, I guess turians don't kiss anyway because of the whole no lips thing." She said and he nodded. "What do you guys do if you don't kiss?" She asked, frowning and he sighed.

"We sort of... bump heads." He explained and Shepard had to stifle a laugh.

"Oh my god, that's adorable." She said, grinning and he growled a little.

"It's not _adorable_, it's..." He started but she shook her head, still grinning.

"You are so easy to wind up when you're drunk." She said and he frowned.

"I am _not_ drunk." He said and she smiled.

"_Riiiight._" She joked and he frowned for a moment before sighing.

"So you really think that he should just kiss her?" He asked and Shepard nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, he could do the forehead bump thing even with the mask. So, why not?" She asked and he raised a brow plate again.

"Because there's still the same problem." He said and Shepard shook her head.

"I've already told you that there isn't a problem. If he kissed her then she would kiss him back. Or the quarian equivalent or whatever..." She said and Garrus laughed a little.

"You are so optimistic." He told her and she shrugged.

"Maybe. But I'm sure that it would happen." She said and he frowned.

"But then what? I mean, he might hurt her. His talons could... cause a suit rupture or something. Maybe he just doesn't want to risk hurting her." He said and Shepard snorted.

"I think that it's up to her to make that decision." She told him. "Maybe she upgraded her suit. Maybe it could withstand it." She told him and he shook his head.

"It still might happen. I don't think he would ever risk hurting her." He said and Shepard shook her head.

"Then he's an idiot. Maybe she doesn't care. He doesn't know. She might think it's worth it." She countered and Garrus sighed.

"What if he doesn't?" He asked and she snorted again.

"Bullshit." She said and he raised a brow plate at her again.

"How so?" He asked and she rolled her eyes.

"It's just another bullshit excuse so that he doesn't have to tell her how he feels." She said and he sighed.

"Yeah, maybe." He said before they lapsed into silence again. "You really think she wouldn't care?" He asked finally and Shepard nodded.

"I can guarantee it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Last chapter! Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous!" Shepard exclaimed, shaking her head. "I'm half tempted to just go over there and tell her myself." She said and Garrus shook his head.

"I can't take you anywhere, can I?" He asked and she sighed, folding her arms.

"Oh, come on. You can't tell me you're not thinking the exact same thing." She said but he shook his head.

"No, I'm not. Unlike you I am happy to leave well enough alone." He said, causing her to huff a little.

"But are you _really_, Garrus? Are you really okay to just leave things as they are?" She asked and he sighed.

"Not okay but... She's a quarian and he's a turian. It could never work properly. They're too... different. That's why she turned him down for the human guy and why she keeps friendzoning him." He said and Shepard frowned at the familiarity of the words before she remembered that she had been the one to first say them.

_"Kaidan, I don't see why this is such a big deal." She sighed, folding her arms. She didn't even really like the biotic but she had decided to give him a chance. To try and keep her mind from... Anyway, it was possibly turning into one of her worst judgement calls._

_"Are you kidding me, Shepard? You spend all of your free time with him. I'm supposed to be... I mean, we're supposed to be together and you spend all of your time with another man. What am I supposed to think?" Shepard sighed again, shaking her head. What should she say? The truth was that she did care for her turian friend but... it would never work. And she was sure that he didn't think of her as more than a friend._

_"Kaidan, do you honestly think I'm going to run off with Garrus of all people? Even if I did like him like that, which I don't, I'm a human and he's a turian. It would never work properly. We're simply too different." She told him and he frowned._

_"Sounds like you put a lot of thought into it." He said in an accusing tone._

_"Kaidan, what does it matter? As soon as we dock at the Citadel, he's going to head back to C-Sec anyway." She told him before leaving, never hearing his response._

"She never 'turned him down'. That implies that he asked her." She said and he frowned, shaking his head.

"Doesn't change how she feels. She would have turned him down for those reasons. Still would." He said and she glared at him.

"No, she wouldn't! She only said those things to shut up her stupid human boyfriend who she only went out with because she didn't believe that her turian friend could ever like her like that!" She exclaimed, stepping towards Garrus. He didn't back down, instead growling at her.

"Then she's an idiot! It's obvious that he cares about her! And just as the poor bastard works up the courage to tell her, she starts dating someone else!" He said and she narrowed her eyes as he stepped closer to her, anger radiating from both of them.

"She only did that because it was driving her crazy, being around him all of the time and thinking that he could never return her feelings!" She yelled, still glaring at him. Although now he was returning the glare, just as furiously.

"How did she figure that?! She never bothered to ask! If she had just told him how she felt-"

"And have to deal with the rejection? Have to deal with living with him in close proximity for God knows how many months?!" She cried and he let out an exasperated sound.

"Yes! He was going to! She ran from it like-"

"Like a coward! I get it, Garrus. She was a fucking coward and lost her chance for good." Her gaze finally shifted from his and he touched her arm gently, shocking her a little.

"Not for good." He told her softly and she shook her head, smiling a little.

"You think so?" She asked and he nodded.

"I know so." He said and she sighed.

"So, you think that if she just spilled her guts..." She trailed off, biting her lip a little. He recognised it as what she did when she had to make a difficult decision and he steeled himself before tugging a little on her arm, pulling her close to him and gently lowering his forehead to hers.

"I think he'd ask her what took her so long." He said softly as she smiled, a little with relief and a little with something that he had never seen cross her features before.

"Then I've got something to tell you, Garrus." She said, raising her hand to his scars.

"I thought you might." He said and she shook her head a little, laughing softly.

And then she kissed him.


End file.
